The anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party would capture 16 percent of the vote if a federal election were held now, according to an opinion poll on Friday which showed it drawing more support than ever before.

The poll released by public broadcaster ARD said Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives would get 32 percent of the vote, while the Social Democrats, junior partner in the ruling coalition, would get 22 percent. Together they would have 54 percent, enough for the ruling "grand coalition" to continue.

The AfD made huge gains in two regional elections this month and will now have seats in 10 of 16 state assemblies, benefiting from a backlash against Merkel's open-door refugee policy and the arrival of nearly a million migrants last year.

The next federal election is a year from now. The party's latest score of 16 percent is more than three times the 5 percent it would need to win seats in the Bundestag or parliament for the first time.

While 16 percent isn't huge, the trend is in their favor and will likely continue to grow as the situation gets worse. Also, these numbers would make the AfD the third largest party in Germany. They've already forced Merkel to make concessions and at this point it's looking like she may not even try to run again next election.

In her last speech, she expressed regrets, but nonetheless, in the words of VladTepes Blog, still said "she wishes she could have forced more Muslims on Europe."

While media outlets reported as though she issued some sort of apology, Gates of Vienna summed up the actual substance of her "regrets" as follows:

1. That she failed to indoctrinate the German people well enough in advance of the migration crisis;
2. That she didn’t convince the European Union to adopt the immigration policies she wanted;
3. That there isn’t quite enough housing for the “New Germans”; and
4. That people don’t realize that full integration will be a very long process.

If Germany could simply get a leader who doesn't want to destroy them from within it would be a huge step in the right direction.